Trustees are elected to staggered four-year terms. Each position represents a specific area within district.

District 1

Kaminski, 68, owns The Gingerbread House Day Care Center. She is a lifelong resident of Rosenberg.

Mendoza, 44, works as a project clerk for AT&T in consumer markets. She has lived in Rosenberg for more than 40 years and attended school in LCISD.

Pineda, 30, is a management consultant at AIG. She has lived in the district for just over two years.

District 2

Danziger, 59, has lived in Richmond for 31 years. She is a retired teacher, who worked for LCISD for 32 years.

Horstman, 60, is a retired teacher from the Alief Independent School District. She has lived in the Lamar Consolidated district for 23 years.

District 3

Torres, 53, is self-employed, and has lived in the district his entire life.

D'onofrio Jr., 63, works as an ambassador for Fort Bend Transit and counsels at an alternative learning center. He has lived in Richmond for 10 years and lived in Sugar Land for 20 years prior to that. He has 30 years of police experience and is also a retired U.S. marshal, federal corrections officer and deputy sheriff.

Cavazos, 50, owns Lola Rose Soy Candles, Wickless Candles and Fine Soaps. She grew up in Fort Bend and moved to Richmond six years ago.

Growth challenging

Mendoza said, "Lamar CISD is one of the fastest-growing school districts in the greater Houston area.

"As such, we must carefully review our budget and demographics in order to plan for adding new school campuses across our district, which encompasses 385 square miles, to facilitate the needs of all our schoolchildren."

Enrollment totals more than 26,000, she said, and increases by about 800 students each year.

Kaminski also considers growth the most pressing issue - especially how increased enrollment will affect placement of future schools.

"With limited finances, we must take a better look at future locations of the schools," she said. "I think centralized planning of schools will be critical."

Danziger said, "I feel the biggest issue facing Lamar Consolidated school district is keeping up with our constant growth and providing quality education for all students while keeping the community's taxes at our current low rate."

Danzinger said the quality of the district used to be a well-kept secret.

"I don't think it is anymore," she said. "We can barely keep up. The schools are becoming overcrowded. I want to make sure the schools continue to be built on time and on budget."

Gonzalez said, "The single greatest challenge facing the district is the rapid growth."

Gonzales said that by 2015, a total of 27,521 students will be enrolled and by 2018 enrollment will be at 31,070.

"While growth is great for the economy and the community as a whole, LCISD must continue to examine its 10-year facilities plan to ensure proper implementation," she said.

Horstman said, "One of the biggest issues is how to manage this tremendous growth. The school district is so big. How do we handle that with our zoning? We need to keep kids in schools close to home - that's what parents like the most."

Security important

D'onofrio said increasing campus security is his top priority. "It doesn't matter how good an education is, how good teachers are or the curriculum is, if you have to worry about your kids," he said. "Safety is first. Plain and simple, we need more officers."

Torres agreed. "We need to make sure that schools are not only safe but that children are getting the best education possible," he said. "I'd like to see every school in the district tied for the No. 1 spot. When we get to that spot, we'll know there's no child left behind."

Pineda said that financial accountability would be her main focus. "Priorities are skewed," she said. "I want to take a look at the budget and make sure our priorities stand properly for what benefits the community, taxpayers and students."

Cavazos said creating a better communication system is her top concern. "The most important thing is the disconnect of board members with the parents," she said. "The communication is not there at all. I'm tired of asking questions and not getting answers."

Cavazos also had concerns about the bidding process. "The board members have unfortunately chosen not to open up bidding on several projects," she said. "They've handed over huge amount of dollars to the same contractors."

Vocational necessary

Mendoza would like the district to pay more attention to serving economically disadvantaged students, which she said total 48.6 percent of enrollment.

"We have a sector of our school population throughout the state that is being underserved," she said. "These are the children who won't be attending college but will go out into the world looking for a job when in fact, they possess little to no skills that will allow them to be competitive or even qualified for the good paying jobs."

She believes expanding career and technology programs could address this need. "This would entail expanding our relationships with junior colleges that also have programs that our children could access while in high school," she said. "This goes as far as sharing tax dollars to assure appropriate funding in both organizations."

Horstman said, "I would like them to learn skills, so they can start working right away if they need to. We have a whole lot of kids who need technical programs."

She also suggests that funding support programs to work one-on-one with struggling students. She said retired teachers could be an important component in reading programs and other tutoring.

Cavazos is another proponent of vocational training. "They can work through college and earn that degree," she said. "And that way they won't have a huge debt when they graduate."

D'onofrio said Lamar Consolidated should renew its emphasis on academics over athletics.

"School is for academics, not extracurricular," he said. "Children are there to learn. I would like to see more emphasis on academics than there is now. How many professional ballplayers do you know?"

D'onofrio wants to see less focus on testing and more on programs for students with disabilities.

Cavazos would work to increase the number of counselors in schools. "We have a lot of at-risk children," she said. "Counselors should be the last positions cut."

Pineda would like to see more focus on math and science in the schools. "With the way our world is going, math and science are of utmost importance," she said. "You need more emphasis on those subjects, and I have lots of ideas."

Pineda suggests that curriculums include accounting, investing, insurance and retirement.

Danziger said she would support expanded technology in schools.

Raise salaries

Kaminski would like additional funding to go to staff salaries.

"If state funding were restored, I would want to address teachers' pay and special education programs first," she said. "Being in my first year, I would want to hear other departments recommendations, and hopefully, the remainder of funds could be distributed according to needs."

Danziger also would like to ensure that rates are competitive with other districts.

"I would want to allocate funds for pay raises for our current staff and to attract quality educators," she said. "I would also like to add more classroom teachers to keep class size down, classroom aides to assist students, school bus drivers for student safety and provide research-based quality programs, such as a full-day prekindergarten program."

"Teachers don't put in a standard eight-hour day," D'onofrio said. "They definitely need a raise. That's one way to keep teachers teaching. A lot of them go into the private sector because they can't continue to live on these rates."

Torres would work to increase teachers' salaries. "We already have the highest starting pay for teachers in the area," he said. "But I've always thought teachers were underpaid."

He also wants to see that programs are equally implemented on all campuses. "I want children from lower income households to have the same opportunities and participate in all the programs," he said.

Gonzales said she would like to see that all positions directly connected to instruction were fully restored in the schools. She also hopes to increase the numbers of social workers in the district and other support staff.

"Currently, LCISD staff are wearing multiple hats," Gonzales said. "With time something gives and unfortunately what happens is children are not receiving a quality education, and great teachers leave."